Women in Training, Inc. is urging all Alabama residents to contact State Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur), Chairman of the Senate Finance and Taxation Education Committee, to urge him to schedule a favorable vote on HB 236, sponsored by State Rep. Neil Rafferty (D-Jefferson County). Sen. Orr and Rep. Rafferty sponsored bipartisan bills in the 2024 legislative session to end Alabama's sales tax on menstrual supplies, baby formula, baby bottles, baby wipes, breast milk-pumping equipment, breast pumps, diapers and maternity clothing. Sen. Orr introduced SB 62 in the Senate, and Rep. Rafferty sponsored the House counterpart, HB 236.
Alabama is among only twenty-one states that imposes sales tax on menstrual supplies, contributing to the high rate of period poverty, specifically, and poverty, in general, among women and families in the state. Breanna and Brooke Bennett, Co-Founders of Women in Training, Inc., wrote in the USA Today that the “pink tax” or “tampon tax” contributes to period poverty.
"Eliminating state taxes on menstrual supplies will go a long way to ending period poverty in our state," wrote Breanna and Brooke in The Montgomery Independent. "The House Ways and Means Education Committee amended HB 236 to add the opportunity for municipal governments to also remove state sales and use taxes without further state approval."
On the left is State Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur), Chairman of the Senate Finance and Taxation Education Committee, sponsor of SB 62. On the right is State Rep. Neil Rafferty (D-Jefferson County), sponsor of HB 236.
Below is contact information for all members of the Alabama State Senate leadership and the Finance and Taxation Education Committee. Please flood their offices with phone calls and emails to schedule HB 236 for a committee vote.
